


Tiny People, Big Feelings

by Pikuna



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fantasy, Friends to Lovers, GoblinBog, HumanMarianne, Interspecies Relationship(s), Potions, Scotland, Shrinking, Tiny People in Jar AU, Trow - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-08-30 18:37:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8544697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikuna/pseuds/Pikuna
Summary: Marianne moved from USA Colorado to a small village in a forest region of Scotland, to escape her mistake of an ex-fiance and to get some fresh air. Not caring about the rumors, she bought a little cabin that lays secluded at a dark forest and hopes to finally get some time for herself. But soon enough she gets a visitor of the small kind, strange but not unusual for a country like Scotland and she forms a deep friendship with this visitor.





	1. A fresh Start

**Author's Note:**

> After reading the fantastic Tiny People in a Jar AUs by abutterflyobession and MissSunFlower94, I also wanted to try myself on such an AU.  
> Since a month now this idea ghosts around in my head and I finally finished this small prologue for it. I know I have a bunch of other stories that needs to be updated, but I'm currently at a point where I don't care anymore and simply write what I'm currently inspired to, even when this means one more WIP story. xD
> 
> The rating is General for now, I'm not enterily sure if I will raise it in the future or not. Will see how it goes.
> 
> The prologue is a bit bumpy, but starting stories was never a strenght of me. Additionaly I barely know how school and law system in the USA work, so sorry for any mistakes. xD
> 
> PS: Dear Americans, your school system is so confusing for a German like me. xD

Marianne stretched her arms out and took in a deep breath of evening air, while standing on the patio. 

Just this morning she had arrived in Scotland and after a car drive of two hours she had arrived at the little cabin that was her new home for now and laid at the border of a small village, surrounded by a thick, dark forest. Most of her belongings had arrived a day before her and since the cabin was still furnished from the previous owner, most of her day was spent with unpacking and decorating. When she had been finished during the afternoon, Marianne went into the village to get familiar with her new living area. It was a small and friendly community, people had approached her, asked her questions and welcomed her. But there were also a few who voiced their concern of her choice of housing. 

The cabin wasn't even a hundred years old, yet it already has a long history of owners who had either abandoned it or simply vanished. Soon the rumor had spread that the cabin was cursed and since ten years now it had no new owner.

Until Marianne had bought it recently and she wasn't in the least concerned about these rumors. 

She had fallen in love with it the moment she had found the pictures on the internet. It's price had been so ridiculous cheap thanks to the rumors, it looked so homely and was secluded in the woods of the far away Scotland. Just the perfect thing she had been looked for. 

Marianne originally came from Colorado Springs and had never imagined to leave the state, let alone live on another continent. But she had needed that drastic change. couldn't face the same environment and the same people anymore. Her father and sister always asked uncomfortable questions and everything she had liked from her old hometown was tainted by the memories of _him_. 

For four years Marianne had been happily in love with her Junior High-school crush Roland, when he had asked to marry him. She had been sure she was the most happiest girl in the whole world, being the fiancée to the most handsome and charming guy in the whole city. They had set the date of their wedding a few days after they would graduated from college and also had chosen Las Vegas as their honeymoon destination. Everything seemed to be perfect. 

Until she had found Roland with one of those pretty Cheerleaders in his car while making out. 

It had been like someone had shattered her perfect, little glasshouse of happiness with a hammer. She had felt cold, empty and utterly betrayed, cried and didn't leave the house. And the moment she realized how much she had sacrificed, how much she had changed just to please Roland and that his reason to marry her was mostly her father's wealth...in that moment pure anger overcame her.

In hindsight it had been such a stupid action, but Marianne hadn't been able to think clearly that moment, so she had taken her baseball bat and had driven to Roland's house. He had been there, had been even the one who had opened her the door, but it hadn't stopped her from smashing every piece in his home that held any kind of memory about their time together. She even found a few souvenirs of his lady lovers and simply set them on fire. When she was about to beat Roland too, the police had arrived and arrested her.

To her luck Roland hadn't charged her, but Marianne still got a record of violence and had been forbidden to take part in the final test for her college graduation. At this point her blind anger for Roland had mostly vanished, but a new one had built up in her. The quiet, frustrating anger at herself for letting all this happen, the kind of anger that she couldn't get rid of so easily. Just like Roland it seemed.

Despite her clear actions, he still tried to win her back. Marianne had to hold herself back not to deck him the first time he had the audacity to ask her for a second chance. The next tries were so ridiculous, but soon his winning-back methods became kind of creepy and annoying. And her family wasn't much of a help either. Her father almost begged her to take Roland back, he would be such a good guy and always had been able to hold back this aggressive side of her. Maybe the public face of his company, which was slightly ruined by her outburst, was also a big motivator for her father to get the town-wide popular Roland as son-in-law. Her sister Dawn wasn't so persistent and had accepted it that she never wanted to be together with Roland again, but she still tried to get her to date other guys. 

But Marianne had experienced what love could do to you and she never wanted to be used or hurt that badly again. The only love she would ever feel was for her family and her favorite pizza. She would be so much more at peace with herself, without any kind of romantic love. When her father also finally gave up his meddling, Marianne was sure her life could finally get better again.

Still, the looks and muttered words people throw at her and Roland's constant stalking re-opened the wounds again and again and almost drove her insane. That was when she decided, she needed to move away. Far away. She had told her family so and to her relief, they hadn't do any attempt to argue her out of doing so.

At first Marianne had no idea where she should go. But then she had remembered that her mother had a penfriend in her youth and even had even visited her in Scotland. Farica had been so fascinated by that country and had always wished to visit it with her whole family, as soon as the girls would have been old enough. Sadly they never had gotten the chance to make this family trip.

But now Marianne was fulfilling her mother's wish in a way. Not only visited she Scotland, but would also live there for a few years now. 

A gentle breeze went over the forest before her and made the trees - due to the now beginning night being black - waving in a soothing, but also eerily way.

Marianne grinned widely. 

This was a fresh start. Far away from any people she knew, without anyone judging her for the things she had done. It was already such a feeling of freedom to wear what she wanted and finally apply her dark Make-up again. The people in this little village had even complimented her on the way she had dressed up. Maybe they were used to even weirder things, when one could believe how many stories of ghosts, trolls and other fae creature this country had. Marianne remembered a few her mother had told her when she was younger. 

A fond smile spread on Marianne's face. Her mother surely would have loved the cabin, the village and this forest. Maybe she should explore it one day.

Surely not today anymore. A yawn escaped Marianne and she stretched herself a last time, before she turned around and went inside again. She had a long day behind her and surely another one ahead.

The second she had closed the door and curtains, a small pair of blueish-glowing eyes peeked out of the forest. 


	2. Little Thieves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *coughs* Well, took me only over half a year to finish this little chapter. :'D  
> Big sorry for that, but I was out of the fandom in general for a few months, but now I'm (maybe) back!  
> The chapter is a little bit bumpy, since I wrote it over a long stretched time, but I still hope you like it.

Marianne had been in her new home for a week now and it was safe to say that she had herself settled in.

Everything that a good household needed - like electricity, water and internet -  was running, her stuff was all unpacked, broken bulbs were replaced and her refrigerator was full of stuff, some more healthy than others. She didn't worry about the heater. It may be just early spring and it surely was colder in Scotland than she was used to, but Marianne simply put on another sweater. 

Since her low school-qualifications weren't much worth here in Scotland, Marianne had already asked in a few of the stores for a part-time job. The biggest grocery market finally had given her a chance and had appointed a few training days next week to see if she could be helpful. Should she get the job she had something to hold her over water for the next few months, after all she had to pay no rent. But she would try to save up money for a car. In the next big city was a school and Marianne hoped to get a graduation that would help her to start a career. In which direction she had no idea yet.

But that could wait. For the moment Marianne only wanted to enjoy her new life, being her own person again, doing the things she always had liked to do.

Like martial arts.

As a child Marianne had been fascinated by all the martial-art movies and wanted to learn for herself. It had been one of the few activities her father had approved of, since she could defend herself should she ever get in trouble. She took classes for Taekwondo and even earned the blue belt, until she got together with Roland. He had convinced her that she hadn't needed to defend herself, since it would be his job now. Another thing that she had let him take away from her. 

Immediately after the break-up she picked up her classes again, to vent her anger and also started to take Tai Chi classes at the suggestion of her martial arts teacher. It was a good way to gain a bit of self-discipline and it helped her to control her anger much better. Sadly she hadn't found a studio in her new region yet, but she still could look up for new things on the internet and in the meantime simply repeated the exercises she already knew. And doing this while being on the fresh air in her new garden filled her with so much peace and satisfaction. 

Another thing that Marianne always wanted to try out was baking on her own. 

She was by far no talent in the kitchen. Most of her attempts on cooking had resulted in almost calling the firefighters and so her family and even Roland always had tried to put much distance between her and kitchens. 

In the end she only wanted to try out baking, because it had been activity she always had done with her mother, when Marianne was still a child. She had helped her mother to bake the most delicious cakes and since she had written down all her receipts, Marianne wanted to give it a try.

For her first attempt she had chosen a strawberry cake. Sweet memories of the taste and the countless times she had baked it with her mother filled Marianne's head, but after a few seconds melancholy replaced those. With a sigh she put the book with the receipts aside and put the freshly baked cake, which to her delight it hadn't burned and actually smelled quite good, on the sill of an open window. Her mother had always put a cake outside in the evening, so it could develop it's full flavor during the night. And with the healthy sottish air Marianne was sure that her strawberry care would be absolutely tasty. 

So it was no wonder that she was pretty excited the next morning to finally taste her creation. Marianne was about to take the cake from the windowsill when she noticed that something was off: A lot of the strawberries were missing and the icing was full of little...footprints? Did a mouse or something like that stole a few of the strawberries? She had no idea what the foot or paw-prints of a mouse would look like, but since she lived so close to the forest it was logical that maybe some sort of critter was the thief. With a groan Marianne put the cake on the kitchen-table and scraped the icing of the cake where the prints were. It was a bit sad, but the rest of the cake was still edible. And to her delighted surprise it indeed tasted good. So she wasn't a complete failure in the kitchen.

Quickly the missing strawberries and footprints were forgotten and Marianne got more occupied as soon as she passed the training days in the grocery market and started to work there from every morning to afternoon. At the weekends she would always try out another cake with a different topping, mostly berries and fruits. And every time she took the cake from the windowsill, where it had stood overnight, the fruits were missing and those prints were back.

It became more and more annoying, so Marianne started to place mousetraps with berries and cheese as bait. But to her big confusion there were of no use. In fact they were always disabled and the bait was missing. 

Whatever was stealing her toppings seemed to be a smart kind of critter. Normal traps wouldn't help her much, but how about a more hidden one? 

On her next cake she put slowly drying glue instead of the typical icing. Maybe it wouldn't be edible, but this way the little thief would get stuck and Marianne could finally get behind the identity of it. While she was decorating the cake with strawberries -clearly the favorite of the thief, since they were always completely missing- she mused about what to do with the critter. Killing was no option for her and so she cleaned a big jar, which she wanted to use to capture the animal. Depending on what it was she probably would give it to the local animal shelter or bring it to the other end of the forest. Marianne just hoped she could enjoy a whole, not ruined cake from then on.

_~~ Several hours later~~_

It had become nighttime. Marianne had turned off all lights on the house, just as usual when she went to sleep. But instead of laying in her bed, Marianne slouched on a chair, hidden behind the kitchen counter and played some games on her phone. The small light source of the device shouldn't scare the thief away and she needed to keep herself occupied. Her mind tended to wander to places or persons she didn't want to be reminded of. At first she had texted with Dawn, told her about her recent workdays and that she had a little problem with a topping-thief. Of course her sister found the whole situation very amusing and even suggested that maybe a Fairy was the thief. They had joked a bit more about the identity of the thief, until Dawn had to get off the phone and Marianne had to occupy herself with something else.

When it became past midnight Marianne was about to call this a night and try again tomorrow, when she heard a very quit buzzing sound. Carefully she peeked over the counter and spotted something hovering over the cake on the windowsill. The moonlight from outside provided her with just enough light to recognize a little creature with four wings, two arms and legs.

Maybe some kind of insect she didn't know? The transparent wings reminded her of those from dragonflies. 

Marianne squinted her eyes to see it better.

No, insects didn't look like some kind of little person. Not that little people would exist in the first place.

She rubbed her eyes, maybe Marianne was just more tired than she had thought to be. But the little insect person was still there and had now landed on her trap-cake. 

And got stuckt, just as she had planned it.

Despite the fact that Marianne was still utterly confused about _what_ actually was that thing on her cake, she went on with her plan. Grabbing the jar she sneaked to the windowsill and didn't waste another second.

"Got you!" she exclaimed with a laugh, when she put the jar over the creature. But in the same moment...

"The bloody hell?"

Marianne was later proud that she didn't squeaked in surprise, but only took in a sharp intake of air and jumped back a step.

"Who is there?" she asked into the dark kitchen. She was sure she just had heard a dark male voice...coming from the windowsill.

Oh, come one, now she totally went crazy. The weird insect couldn't be the one who had talked. But she hadn't heard anyone enter her home, nor did she left on her tv or other devices that could play a tone. And so far she never had people running around outside at this hour.

Well, no need to speculate. If there was someone else in the kitchen she would see it in a moment.

"You have five seconds to leave my house, before I get you. And believe me you don't want that, I'm in a very bad mood right now." There was no answer, but she still hoped that whoever had talked would be go on the run. 

Slowly she walked to the light switch, always looking around if someone would suddenly pounce her. Right now Marianne regretted not to have a baseball bat or something similar with her. 

When she switched on the light, there was indeed no one inside the kitchen besides her...and the thing in the jar. 

There were coming swearings from it, the same voice as before. Maybe she was hearing ghosts?

And certainly she was seeing ones. Because the creature, even with the wings and seemingly scales on its body, was no insect. It really looked...humanoid, even with his action-figure size. 

Marianne walked closer to the jar and knelt before it, so that she was on eye-level with the glass. Now she noticed the - albeit clawed - five-fingered hands, which touched the glass, and the long and pointy face, which was currently twisted into an angry snarl. When it turned it's face to her, she could see the most human aspect about it...the most beautiful pair of blue eyes she had ever seen. 

There was silence between them. Marianne simply didn't know what to say, let alone comprehend what she was actually seeing. 

"This can't be for real," she was muttering mostly to herself, but the little guy seemed to catch it too, since his expression turned to annoyance and just confirmed that he was the voice from before.

"If ye are going to faint, it would be very kind to take that jar with ye."


End file.
